DHS denies attempt to reopen Glen Mills School

THORNBURY » An attempt to reopen the Glen Mills School has hit a snag as the Pennsylvania Department of Health denied the non-profit Clock Tower School’s application to reopen the nearly 200-year-old school for troubled teens.

Clock Tower Schools is a nonprofit entity established in July 2021.

Brandon Cwalina, press secretary for DHS, said the application was denied on April 4 because it did not meet all of the requirements for licensure.

Cwalina said generally, DHS has concerns over the organization’s ability to safely operate a child residential facility due to suitability of facilities and program structure.

The school has appealed the decision.

“While Clock Tower Schools is disappointed to not receive a license at this time, we are confident that our appeal addresses the issues DHS outlined and remain hopeful that we will be able to move forward and provide critically needed care and education for youth entrusted to our care,” said Jeff Jubelirer, spokesman for Clock Tower.

The Glen Mills Schools faced

closure following a Philadelphia Inquirer report in February 2019 that alleged students there suffered decades of abuse at the hands of employees.

All 14 of the school’s licenses remain revoked and it is the subject, with other defendants, of numerous lawsuits involving hundreds of plaintiffs alleging they suffered various abuses at the hands of staff over the years.

A 2020 IRS form 990 for non-profit organizations for the year 2019 indicated the school had $48.2 million in net assets at that time.

Former Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale performed an audit of the school in the wake of the allegations in 2019, and there was also a county investigation.

DePasquale issued a report in June 2020 that concluded the school lacked policies and training related to reporting abuse, all of which put the safety and well-being of students at risk.

DePasquale’s June report focused on the period from July 1, 2017, through March 11, 2020, and found Glen Mills failed to obtain proper clearances for staff, contractors and volunteers; did not ensure that some individuals who had contact with children received required training related to preventing and reporting child abuse; and that avenues for students to report abuse were not always properly communicated.

The report made 35 recommendations, including ways to improve clerical operations, formalize various policies, update the student grievance process, and better track training and compliance procedures. The audit noted at the time that the facility, newly helmed by Acting Executive Director Chris Spriggs and board President Carolyn Seagraves, had already begun implementing many of those recommendations.

Pasquale said in November 2020 that the school seemed to have adopted all of the recommendations in the June audit.

In 2020 Spriggs said the that Glen Mills Schools was working to reinvent itself under a “trauma-informed” program model. The school installed new cameras, implemented a new grievance system for students and hoped to hire a completely new staff indoctrinated in a different culture, he said.

Spriggs said Glen Mills had worked with Harvard Law School, the Massachusetts Advocate for Children, West Chester University’ psychology department for therapeutic supports and other stakeholders in developing that new model.

“We’re just trying to be ready,” said Spriggs. “If given the opportunity by the commonwealth, we want to be prepared to present them with everything we’ve put in place to ensure the safety and security of students, to be transparent and to provide a rehabilitative program that’s state-of-the-art.”